The aftermath of Hurricane Florence has been devastating. Houses once gleaming and cozy are steeping in water up to the attic. Roads have been upturned and twisted, washed out, or blown away. Personal belongings like hairbrushes, clothing, pots, and pans have been spotted floating down swampy streets.
And the people and animals? They’re displaced and in survival mode. Thank goodness for the rescue workers doing the best they can with all hands on deck, because there are some lone survivors out there, still waiting, wishing, hoping, to be found.
While most managed to evacuate, there are others who are trapped, stuck without the means to get out to safety. This video is an inside look at the rescue mission that the Humane Society Disaster Response Task Force pulled off after they got a call from a very distressed owner. The owner was worried sick about a stranded pet (a puppy) and made the call to see if anyone could go check up on the dog. Previously, the team made multiple attempts to get to the house, but with the rise of the water, it was near impossible to locate until the water receded. Even by the third time, the boat broke down.
It was a daunting task with a lot of failure and effort wasted, but the team didn’t give up. They were able to finally make it to the home where they could hear the faint barking. To their amazement, there was, in fact, a dog inside, and he had survived the past week by sitting on a floating couch.
The two rescue workers tried to get the pup off the cushion by calling out, but the scared dog wasn’t going anywhere. The one team member had to go in and physically pull out the terrified, cold, hungry, wet dog to safety – after kicking down the door. The scraggly pup was immediately cuddled and fed. The owner was stranded in another part of the state and couldn’t get to the flooded home to rescue the dog. Upon hearing the good news, however, the owner was delighted and crying that the pup had been found alive and rescued.
Click on the video below to watch the crucial rescue moments.
